“IMPROVED GROWING METHODS 
More profitable methods and varieties are annually presenting themselves for the grower. To 
keep up with them is of first importance if we are to meet the ever higher costs we are faced with. 
The alternative is to start slipping and to any live grower that is unthinkable. While some new 
ideas pictured are in the course of development, the one suggested in the lower left corner of this 
page is not new or questionable as the two cloth house beds of asters show. One was steam 
sterilized, the other was not. Directly above pictures our method of seed testing. This bed is 
equipped with electric bottom heat. With this, temperatures vary but slightly from 75°, which we 
maintain for nearly all varieties of annuals, with much better results than when this equipment 
is not used. To the right of this bed is a house equipped 
for gravel culture. As far as we have gone we find this 
reduces production costs about 25%. 
Naturally, we feel that gravel culture has a future. Below this 
house is a glimpse of sub-watering pot plants that is in the evolu- 
tionary stage, but we believe has possibilities. The fertility content 
of soils is another one of the uncertainties the growers’ profession 
is full of. Our “lab” pictured in the upper left is not a costly or 
mysterious affair. 
Thru this we are periodically told the approximate fertility con- 
tent of every soil bed. Sometimes this saves or makes a crop. It 
is indispensable equipment in gravel culture, and in 
the greenhouse of tomorrow it will be equally nec- 
essary for soil growing. 













Come out and look us over some time. Come either on 
Chicago & Northwestern R. R. to West Chicago or on the 
Chicago, Aurora, Elgin Electric R. R. to Wheaton. In either 
case, call us on arrival—West Chicago 299. On Highway 330 
(Roosevelt Rd.) it is 35 miles west of Chicago’s Loop. 
